For years we've heard of doctors having to deal with patients who come into appointments armed with pages of information they found on the Internet. Now, plastic surgeons report that more "patients come to them with selfies they took to show where they think they need improvement," according to Quartz.
An annual study released earlier this year by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery showed that one in three surveyed doctors have seen an increase in requests for surgery due to patients’ dissatisfaction with their image on social media. As a result, the report says, American surgeons saw a 10% increase in rhinoplasty from 2012 to 2013, a 7% rise in hair transplants, and 6% in eyelid surgery.
There has also been an increase in the number of hand lifts ("to 'appropriately' show off their wedding bling," as if the words "appropriately" and "show off" can ever be used together), and neck procedures to get rid of "text neck."
It's not clear if people are getting procedures aimed at making them look better in real life, or if they want to look better on camera– and are willing to do so at the expense of how they look off-camera. The latter would truly Be A Thing.